The current approach for designing wave energy converters is to use a floating-body tuned to the wave climate, which results in a very large device that is expensive to build, service and deploy. Additionally, because the device is designed to be tuned to a specific climate, it will not work effectively in a different location ·with a different climate. Therefore, the current approach for designing wave energy converters is not conducive to long-term economic application.

Economically significant size reduction and year-round power increases are only possible through operation near theoretical efficiency limits in constantly changing wave conditions, which requires active hydrodynamic control. However, the wave-by-wave control necessary for best conversion is not possible without wave-elevation information up to some duration into the future (this in large part is because of the force due to the waves generated by body oscillation in response to the incident wave field). By incorporating wave-elevation prediction based on a deterministic propagation model that accounts for a realistic range of wave-group velocities in conjunction with wave measurements in the up-wave directions, we have been able to confirm, through simulations, a 10-fold increase in power conversion under a swept-volume oscillation constraint for an omni-directional heaving buoy type device.
Availability of instantaneous wave profile (“wave surface elevation” or “wave elevation”) measurements and wave surface elevation predictions is important to the success of the control approach being pursued in this work. Equally important is the near-optimal wave-by-wave control approach itself.

Proposed research:
1. A method for obtaining instantaneous wave surface elevation information on a wave-by wave basis using a low-cost X-band Radar (the state of the art, as represented by the commercially available WaMOS system is optimized to provide spectral information.
2. A method for providing constrained near-optimal wave-by-wave control for maximizing the energy conversion by small wave energy converters.
3. Although the focus of the proposed research is wave energy converter technology, the results of this work are expected to find application in other forthcoming Navy developments. Wave-by-wave surface elevation prediction and near-optimal power absorption techniques demonstrated in this effort can be extended to facilitate critical mid-sea shipboard operations such as helicopter/ aircraft landing, cargo handling, etc. The techniques demonstrated as part of this research will also provide technology to enhance and optimize seakeeping characteristics of Navy ocean platforms.

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